Guest Post: The Magic of the Feng Shui Bagua By Julie Ann Segal
Have you discovered the Feng Shui Bagua and its positive influence on your life? If you’re wanting to improve any aspect of your life, Feng Shui offers a plethora of ways to work with the energy in your space.
The Bagua, below, is a mapping/grid laid over the blueprint of your home or office building, to identify where the nine areas of energy of the building are. Proper use of it creates flow, peace, joy, love, and abundance in your personal life.
The nine areas of energy are: Abundance and Prosperity; Fame and Reputation; Love, Relationships, Marriage, and Partnerships; Family; Health; Children and Creativity; Wisdom, Knowledge, and Skills; Career and Life Path; and Helpful People and Travel.
The Bagua can be laid out over apartments, houses, or office spaces, as well as a single room, or your yard, art table, or even a desk. This article will focus on your current or potential residential or professional building. If your home or office is more than one level, lay the Bagua map over the main level.
When you’re looking to move into a new building, knowledge of the Bagua can support you in pre-selecting the one that has the more advantageously placed, sized, or structured room for the aspect of your life you’re trying to improve.
For example, if you’re searching for a home with your new partner or spouse, one of your top priorities might be a space that provides a feeling of connection, comfort, love, or inspiration. With this in mind, the Bagua area of Love, Relationships, Marriage, and Partnerships would need to be thoughtfully placed, emphasized, spacious, and designed in ways that would contribute a strong foundation for your new life together.
You may be considering expanding your family and wanting to feel stable and financially secure. So, when searching for a new place to move, you would want the Bagua Wealth area to feel strong, protected, and solid and be well placed. Likewise, the Bagua areas of Family and Children and Creativity would need to feel like a centrally located hub of the home.
If you’re looking to enhance your already existing home, office, or space, there are many Feng Shui tools to implement or adjust, to energize or calm the space. We’ll offer a couple of them here.
First, I want to mention an element of the Feng Shui Bagua that is considered a blessing and bringer of luck or fortune to an aspect of your life. An Extension is an attached garage, sunroom, or den, as well as any room of the house that is an add-on, or that extends past the main square or rectangular shape of the home. An extension expands the energy of the room it is attached to. So, if you have an extension located next to the Bagua area, Helpful People and Travel, you might experience more assistance, guidance, or abundance from others, or opportunities or enrichment in getaways and explorative travel.
As extensions are additions to the main square or rectangular frame of the bagua and add energy and blessings, missing rooms or spaces of the bagua detract from the energy and abundance of the aspect represented in the Bagua. These are called Missing Pieces.
Fortunately, Feng Shui is about working with energy, and energy can always be directed and moved. There are many ways to correct the imbalance of a Missing Piece. One method is to put a mirror reflecting onto the missing area, even if the mirror is a small one tucked behind a painting. It is the energy of the mirror, along with your intention, that activates the balancing. Another way to fill the missing piece is by placing a piece of sculpture, nature element, or furniture in the outdoor space of the missing piece, to create the continual flow of energy.
With a basic understanding of the placement, size, structure of each area of your space as it relates to the Bagua, you can begin designing it with arrangement, color, and pieces. One way we do this is by using paint, furniture, art, accessories, or other piece associated with the Bagua area you are working on.
Each area of the bagua is associated with a different color and element. Abundance and Prosperity are associated with the color purple and the element wood. The Fame and Reputation area is associated with the color red/orange and the element fire. Love, Relationships, Marriage, and Partnerships are connected to the color pink and the element Earth. The Family area is connected with the color green and the element wood. Health is represented by the color yellow/earth tones and the element Earth. Children and Creativity are represented by the color white/pastels and the element metal. The Wisdom, Knowledge, and Skills area is associated with the color blue and the element Earth. Career and Life Path are associated with the color black and the element water. Lastly, Helpful people and Travel are represented by the color gray and the element metal.
There are many resources and nuances in Feng Shui energy design, so when first starting, work with one area at a time. Choose the area that has the aspect of your life you’re wanting most to enhance, expand, or accelerate. If the most challenging aspect of your life is your health and body, focus on the Health area of your space.
With that said, you don’t need to have all the elements and design components of an area completed before moving to another. You might want to do a general design with artwork first, or furniture arrangement, or mirror, paint, or main focal piece, before moving to the next area. This also helps you maintain a holistic feel of wholeness and flow as you walk from one room to another.
Keep in mind that your intention and intuition are just as important, if not more important than, the concepts, tools, and rules of Feng Shui Bagua. If you are desiring peace and clarity and serenity, feel into what that calls to you, as far as color and placement of items within your space. You are the one living, working, playing, or creating there. If you aren’t able to relax or focus or feel supported, change it. If you are experiencing confusion, or sleeplessness, or fatigue, walk into each area, stand still, and feel what your mind, body, and heart are feeling in it. Sometimes it only takes a minor adjustment, like moving the bed to another part of the room, or adding a pop of color, or removing something that is causing you agitation. Try one small change at a time. Like your house or office, and like the Bagua, you have an inner energetic blueprint. Your decisions and design should reflect who you are, your heart and creativity, and what makes you feel good and inspired.
There are many more levels and layers than mentioned here. Don’t hesitate to ask for help or guidance. Using the Bagua Feng Shui design is an art, a science, and a spirit, not to be underestimated. You will notice fairly soon the subtle and powerful shifts in the way you feel and the way your life unfolds under the magical influence of your Feng Shui Bagua.
To learn more on how to lay out the Bagua in your own space and make changes in your life, read Chapter 8 in my book, Change Your Space to Change Your Life.
Change Your Space to Change Your Life
Tap into a Wealth of Energy and Abundance with Feng Shui
Create profoundly comforting spaces in your home or workplace that reflect your authentic self and support your goals. Through practical advice and real-life examples from more than thirty years of interior design experience, Julie Ann Segal teaches you how to reimagine your surroundings with loving intention. She combines spirituality, energy work, aesthetics, and personal connection, offering detailed guidance on room-by-room choices and big picture concepts, such as the interplay between your dreams and décor. Removing the mystery around Feng Shui, this book reveals new opportunities in life’s changes and helps you design a better future.
COPYRIGHT (2023) Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd. All rights reserved.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Julie Ann Segal is an interior designer, Feng Shui consultant, and the owner and president of the design firm Metro Interiors. She received her BFA in Interior Design from Northern Illinois University and has served on the advisory board for the Century College Interior Design program. She is certified as a Feng Shui consultant through the Wind and Water School of Feng Shui and is a member of the International Feng Shui Guild and the Feng Shui Institute of the Midwest. Learn more at MetroInteriors.com.
